


Expresso Depresso

by TimidMarshmallow



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Episode Prompto
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-07-25 01:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20024614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TimidMarshmallow/pseuds/TimidMarshmallow
Summary: Vending machine troubles...





	Expresso Depresso

The vending machine accepted his gil, and Prompto rubbed his gloved hands together. Niflheim was simply too cold. 

The Ebony didn’t come out. Prompto pushed the coin return button, but that didn’t produce a result either. “No, come on…”

Of all the machines in this creepy base, he had to pick the one that was malfunctioning. Maybe this was why there weren’t any vending machines scattered throughout Lucis the same way. It certainly was easier to take a can off of a shelf and pay a cashier. Prompto tried pushing all the other buttons, hoping something would trick the mechanism into releasing the can. He had some gil left, but he wasn’t about to be cheated. Plus, he was thirsty and he wanted his drink, damn it!

Prompto leaned his head against the coffee prison. Was this how Ignis felt all the time? Angry that he was constantly being kept from his coffee? Prompto shoved the thought down, Ignis wasn’t that irritable. Noctis teased him constantly, but for an addicted man he behaved normally without it. What would they tell him to do now? Gladio would probably just have to kick the machine to make it work again. 

Okay, time to stop missing his friends and get caffeinated! Prompto tried the buttons again, this time backwards. He took a few steps back and rushed it, slamming his shoulder against the mass. The machine didn’t even wobble. “Ow. Wait!”

Why was he using brute force when he could be smart about this? Prompto had been fondly called a technophile and now it was time to prove that title by figuring out this machine. He crept around to the back of the coffee storage. Bending down, he saw where the thick wire was plugged into the wall. If he could just unplug and re-plug it, then maybe it would restart the machine and fix the holdup! The only problem was that it was flush with the wall. He was skinny, but he wasn’t paper thin. His arm couldn’t turn properly from behind the machine, and so he could only tickle the cord. He couldn’t pull it out. Retracting his limb, Prompto sat next to his nemesis. 

All this frustration and effort was making him thirstier. 

He had to remove one of the audio diaries he had picked up from his back pocket, the lump was uncomfortable to sit on. Having nothing else to do, he pressed play and listened to the madman ramble. This Verstael guy was supposedly a great scientist but he couldn’t even have working vending machines in his complex? Maybe that was why he had so many. He could walk through the base until he found one that worked. Or maybe he was just as much of an addict as Ignis? Maybe all the scientists who used to work here lived on the stuff? Prompto was over-analyzing this, jealous of all the people who got to have Ebony when they wanted it. Not him, though. He was robbed of his gil and left in the cold, alone and running from a psychopath.

The blond realized that Ardyn was probably watching all of this from some camera feed, laughing his dumb fedora off. 

That thought made him mad enough to try again. No way was he going to be defeated by something so dumb! Ardyn would love that, and Prompto was not about to be free entertainment for that jerk!

He got up and stood in front of the vending machine. He went through his options. Buttons, useless. Plug, inaccessible. There was the panel that was used to refill the machine, but he didn’t have the key. He didn’t even have anything to shove in it to act like a key.

He looked at his barcode, wishing the vending machine was like the doors throughout the base. Then he would have the key. Prompto caught sight of his gun in the holster as he was lamenting his wrist. 

Wait… He snapped his fingers as best he could with the gloves on. 

Prompto stepped back once more and aimed his gun at the small glass window that displayed the cans. Hehe, the glass would shatter for sure! Realizing what a mess that would make, he moved back as far as possible before firing. The window collapsed, shards stubbornly clinging to the frame. One of the Ebony cans caught the bullet and coffee bled across the small shelf. 

Prompto very carefully put his hand in the new hole and picked an undamaged can of coffee. He opened it, and the metallic noise was a victory fanfare. He took a sip of the ambrosia. Prompto continued on his way through the magitek base, drinking his coffee and smiling to himself. 

Nothing could stop him now.


End file.
